HAS the time come for polytechnics to introduce compulsory physical education, as there are in junior colleges?

The question is especially relevant in the light of recent deaths involving two polytechnic graduates during national service training.

Unlike their peers in the JCs, most poly students do not have weekly physical education worked into their curriculum.

An inactive lifestyle might be detrimental especially when these students enter the army's rigorous training programme as fresh recruits.

The New Paper spoke to 10 polytechnic students and graduates and found that seven of them did not have an active lifestyle while studying.

NO SPORTS

They also did not join sports Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), nor did they play a sport during their free time while pursuing their diplomas.

Freelance designer Colin Tan, 20, a recent graduate from Temasek Polytechnic (TP), said: 'Unless you count walking up and down the stairs, there was zero physical activity for me.

'Poly life was mostly attending classes and trying to meet academic deadlines.'

He said he is not worried about his lack of physical preparation when he enlists for National Service this October.

'My buddies and I feel that the point of going into the army is to be trained to be physically fit. We don't have to prepare for it because that would defeat the purpose.'

Another polytechnic graduate, financial planner Hatta Aziz, 22, said that he had no CCA and did not go to the gym during his three years at Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).

He said that although he had a compulsory sports module, he didn't do anything that was too strenuous.

'I didn't even go for the National Physical Fitness Award (Napfa) test,' he said.

'Of the 50 boys in my diploma cohort, I know of only three who did the test,' added Mr Hatta.

At NP, every male student is encouraged to take the Napfa test early in the first semester of their final year.

Said an NP spokesman: 'If they do not pass the test on the first attempt, they will have time to prepare for a re-test in the later semester.'

Mr Aziz, who has already served his two years in NS, admitted that he found army life 'a challenge' during the first few months.

He said: 'It takes time to build up your strength.

'Overall, it wasn't a big struggle, but I had to keep pushing myself to cope with the training.'

'POLY'S DIFFERENT'

Another TP graduate, Mr Moses Chang, 25, a designer, said: 'There is a different culture in junior colleges and polytechnics.

'At polytechnics, the focus is different, as we're allowed to exercise our independence and freedom of choice.'

He said that poly students have to focus on their projects and deadlines.

Mr Chang, who ran and swam every day during his polytechnic years, said that he was one of the few who made use of the institution's sports facilities.

He also said: 'Polytechnic student bodies are very large. This makes it hard for them to organise mass sports events.'

It seems for now that the only poly which has a compulsory sports module is NP, which requires students to take a 15-week Sports and Wellness module in their first year.

Under this module, students select a sport to join and learn to keep fit through it.

Some of the sports include aerobics, swimming and yoga.

NAFPA 'ENCOURAGED'

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and TP said they 'strongly encourage' their students to take the Napfa test.

SP's spokesman said that the polytechnic has seen an increase in the number of students who have taken Napfa in the past four years.

He did not provide figures to back this up. The pass rate has also gone up, he said.

He said that even though the polytechnic does not make it compulsory for students to join formal physical education programmes, events like Sports Day are organised for students.

He said: 'Singapore Polytechnic understands that the fitness of our students is important.

'We have and will continue to strive to encourage and provide options for them to do so,' he added.

TP's spokesman described a similar fitness programme.

Participation in most of its fitness-related activities - like the weekly running sessions organised by the Sports Club - is voluntary.

TP holds Napfa tests every year for about 4,000 medically-fit final-year students, out of a total pool of about 5,000 graduating students.

To encourage participation, TP gives CCA points to medically-fit final-year student who take the Napfa test and records their participation in their CCA transcripts.

Last year, TP's pass rate was 30 per cent (gold or silver awards), which exceeded Mindef's target of 25 per cent.

Melody Zaccheus, newsroom intern

This article was first published in The New Paper on June 18, 2008.